1. Time Management

2. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
The Basics
The PhD examination does not simply represent the conclusive moment of your PhD research: it also constitutes a turning point in your career, since it officially marks your passage from the status of postgraduate student to qualified researcher.

3. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Myths about time management
Time management is nothing but common sense. I get everything done eventually, so I must be managing my time effectively.
It takes all the fun out of life!!!
Time management? I work better under pressure.
No matter what I do, I won’t have enough time!

4. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Truth about time management
Increases productivity. Reduces stress. Improves self-esteem. Helps achieve balance in life. Increases self-confidence Helps you reach your goals!

5. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
168 hours in a week
Urgent
Not urgent
Important
Do Now
Plan to Do
Not Important
 Reject
Trivial requests from others
Apparent emergencies
Interruptions and distractions
Scrutinize and probe demands. Help originators to re-assess. Wherever possible reject and avoid these tasks.
Resist
‘Comfort’ activities, computer games, net surfing
Chat, gossip, text, social communications
Daydreaming, doodling over long breaks
Unnecessary adjusting equipment
Habitual ‘comforters’ not true tasks. Non-productive, de-motivational. Minimize or cease altogether.
Plan to avoid them.
Time is your most precious resource, you can buy lots of things but not more time. We all have the same amount of time, but how is it some people seem to get more done than others

6. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Steps to managing your time
Set goals
Set reasonable expectations (and remember that no one’s perfect)
Make a schedule
Revisit and revise your plan
Disposable time – like money and other parts of your life, you may need to review how you currently use your time – what

7. Disposable time
Knowing what is most valuable to you gives direction to your life.
Your energy should be oriented first toward things that reflect the values that are most important.
Examine your values to help you make time management decisions.

8. Time Log

9. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Daily interruptions log
Minimum of three days ideally 5 – be honest with yourself, it is only for you

10. Set Goals – what are important?
Make your goals specific and concrete. Don’t be vague.
Set both long-term goals and short-term ones to support them.
Set a deadline for your goals.
Integrate your goals: school, personal and career.
Realize that goals change, but know which goals to stick to!

11. Next step - priorities What’s important and what isn’t?
What order do things need to be done in?
Once you know what your priorities are, you need to plan out a schedule for the semester, the week and the day.
Acknowledge the realities of college schedules.
Planning may seem hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier and more natural it gets.

12. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Plan and schedule - Everything
Block all important set time obligations.
Block all lab times/field work.
Note the weight of the activities.
Highlight all project due dates.
Note supervisory meetings.
Conferences/travel.
Personal obligations.
Time for your sanity.
Use a to do list

13. Organise Set realistic goals, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Use spare time to review.
Write/review/analyse at the same time each day: make it a habit.
Divide time into manageable chunks.
Always overestimate!

14. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Focussing on progress tasks is used to encourage you to look beyond the pressure urgent tasks and look for the things that will make the difference - as the old saying goes If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always had.

16. Try it and review Which tasks were you able to do?
What didn’t get done? Why?
Was your energy level appropriate? Your stress level?
What changes need to be made to your weekly schedule?
What are persistent time wasters?
Was procrastination an issue?

17. Gloria Pitzer

18. Procrastibaking and other forms
Ignoring the task, hoping it will go away
Underestimating how long it will take/overestimating your abilities and resources
Telling yourself that poor performance is okay/insisting on perfection
Doing something else that isn’t very important
Believing that repeated “minor” delays won’t hurt you
Talking about rather than doing it
Putting all your work on only one part of the task
Becoming paralyzed when having to make choices

19. Doctoral Examiners Workshop
10 April 2013
Tackle time wasters
Learn to recognize when you’re wasting time.
Decide what you need to do and can realistically do.
Learn how to say “NO” when you don’t have time.
Return calls at your convenience. The phone is a major time killer.
Learn to say “I can’t talk right now. I’ll get back to you.”
Wasting time is often linked to a lack of self-discipline.
Ask yourself, “Do I really need to do this or not?”
Learn to say no

21. Time and energy management can make you more productive and reduce your stress level.
The Three Steps
Set goals
Make a schedule
Revisit and revise your plan
Be tough with your time. Actively avoid procrastination and time wasters. Learn to say “no” to distractions.
Employ a variety of time management strategies to maximize your time.
Relax and enjoy the extra time that you’ve discovered!